Books › Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937 › scan 221
Scan 221
Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937
29 lines. Read by computer on 19 September 2026. Printed page 195. See the scan on archive.org.
1ent. The lower half of the back of the scroll is finished flat. The sound hole slants but little, and although wide is well cut and of good style. The body is 29 inches long: the width of the upper bout is 13 1/4 inches and of the lower bout 16 1/2 inches. The corners are short.
3"The Crehore varnish was of good quality and quite soft in texture. On one bass viol the color was a dark brown. There is a small label, with a garland border as follows:
5Base Viols
6Made and Sold by
7Benjamin Crehore
8in Milton." 6
10The first instrument described, which had a new neck, was sold by Ernest A. Anderberg six or seven years ago, supposedly to go to Milton, Massachusetts.
12"A large 'cello made by Crehore in Dorchester, in 1788 was played in the Old South Church at Weymouth, Massachusetts." 6
14One of Crehore's violoncellos has been repaired by the firm of Weeman, Beal and Holmberg (possibly the one in the possession of the Preston family?)
16William Green, a partner in 1798 of Bent & Green, 7 left about 1800 apparently to make bass viols for church use. A Mr. A. M. Summer owned one of the date of 1800. Other instruments of his were one dated 1801, of high model, and another 1805. Still another bore "the ticket:
18Bass Viols Made and Sold by
19Green & Allen, Medway, Mass., 1817." 8
21The firm consisted of William Green and Deacon Samuel Allen—earlier a carpenter, draftsman, architect and building contractor at Newburyport, and later inventor of machines—for the years 1815-18.
23The first Boston master makers of violins were the White brothers, Asa Warren and Ira Johnson, one of whose violins dated 1835 is now in the possession of Mr. Gould. "The Whites were the first 'family' of American violin makers." 9 Violins made previous to theirs were generally rather amateurish instruments.
256 Howe, William H. The Violinist's Guide. Early American Violin Makers p. 15.
267 See p. 105.
278 Howe, William H. The Violinist's Guide. Early American Violin Makers p. 17.
289 Ibid p. 18.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.